The Ultimate Greek Salad

by Cate on August 5, 2008

Nicholas is a little picky when it comes to eating vegetables, particularly the green ones. Sounds like someone else I know. Believe it or not, he will not only eat artichokes, he will request them. He also likes cucumbers, corn, carrots and roasted potatoes. Sometimes tomatoes. And that’s about the extent of it. He does, however, love salad, so I don’t worry too much about the breadth of willingness to eat vegetables.

One of his favorite salads is a Greek Salad, because he’s partial to Feta cheese and Kalamata olives. And one of my favorite Greek Salads is this one from British celebrity chef Nigella Lawson. The only thing I change when I make her recipe is that I omit the fennel. While I may like it, it’s a harder sell on the boys in the house. Oh, and I add back in the cucumber. No matter what she says, it doesn’t seem like a Greek salad without it.

For me, the key to having the perfect salad-to-dressing ratio is this … get out the biggest bowl you have and mix the salad with the dressing in that prior to serving in a smaller bowl or individual dishes. It’s a secret I learned from watching the employees at Panera, and the surest way to make sure that every piece of lettuce has just enough dressing on it, but avoiding the unnecessary pool of extra dressing on the bottom.

With a platter of grilled chicken on the side, serving up this Greek Salad is the perfect way to keep your kitchen cool in these hot, hot, hot summer months, and I’m all for that. Dig in!

P.S. Don’t let the whole marinate-the-onions-for-two-hours part deter you. Sometimes I have the time to do that, sometimes I don’t. Either way, the end result is still just as good.

P.P.S. Even though we’re not doing the ARF/5-A-Day roundups anymore, I have a few entries to pass along nonetheless… More Bread and Cheese, Please shares the perfect coleslaw, and Cupcake Muffin serves up the very unusual but ARF/5-A-Day-friendly Nectarine and Arugula Pizza.

From Nigella: “Whenever I make this, it’s met, at first, with slightly patronising amusement – and then with the most colossal greed. The trick is twofold: first, substitute sliced fennel for the more traditional cucumber (which has the added benefit of not making the salad go soggy on standing); second, let the onion steep, sprinkled with dried oregano, in the oil and vinegar long enough for it to lose all of its acrid, rib-sticking aftertaste. This version is mild, abundant, gloriously summery. If you don’t like fennel, just leave it out, although don’t be tempted to reinstate the cucumber.”

Sprinkle the oregano over the red onion and grind over some pepper. Pour in the vinegar and oil and toss well, cover and leave to steep for a good 2 hours; longer’s fine. You’ll notice, once it’s had its time, that the blooded crimson of the onion is now a luminescent puce. It’s something to do with the acid in the vinegar: don’t ask. You don’t need to be fully conversant with the technicalities to take advantage of them.

But to return to the case in hand: cut the tomatoes into quarters, then cut each quarter into quarters (always lengthwise) again, so that you have a collection of fine segments. Sprinkle the sugar and a pinch of salt over them and set aside. Tear the lettuce into big pieces and put in a large bowl. Slice the fennel and add that, then the olives and Feta, crumbled into chunks, and toss well. Add the tomatoes, the onion in its marinade, and the lemon juice. Toss gently but thoroughly, so everything is well combined. This is addictive: you will find yourself making it all through summer – and beyond.

That is a gorgeous salad! It will have to wait for next summer, though – no garden this year and I can’t buy Romaine (I know, how bizarre)
I worked with a woman who would not eat any green food… Very, very wierd!

Since my mother is allergic to cucumber, and my husband and kids do like fennel, I was very excited to try this. I made it last night and everyone in the family, from 2-1/2 to 64-1/2 agreed that this should be added to the weekly rotation of meals. I have been instructed to make this every single week that the ingredients are available.